Hochsaison [High Season] 2014/2002

High Season (Samos), 2014

High Season (Munich), 2002

High Season Samos combines two soundscapes that are diametrically opposed in their meaning although on first impression they seem to be quite similar. On the one hand, sounds of the sea and carefree laughter of children at play on the beach are heard as recorded directly in front of the Samos gallery. Aladağ then contrasts this recreational beach-life topos to another soundscape – is that a boat or a whisper we hear? This one is calmer, quieter and filled with abstract sounds. It evokes, at first randomly and then increasingly urgently, Mediterranean beaches as places of yearning and hope for refugees. They risk their lives at night in order to reach exactly those places which we encounter in the high season. Aladağ employs sound to open doors to our collective visual memory. The listener is unavoidably confronted with the tragic and absurd images of holiday destinations where refugee boats and the struggle for survival encounter sunbathers and relaxation. (text by Nico Anklam)